Rebirth
by Rebellious Hurricane
Summary: Three weeks before Yukio and Rin move to True Cross, someone else does. Cora Amsel, renamed Zenzi Faust, is the daughter of one of Mephisto's old friends. After a murder attempt and the death of her parents, Zenzi is ready for a Rebirth.
1. A Journey

"You have no idea who I am," the words rocked and shook in Cora's head. All she could remember was what her friend, her best friend since kindergarten, had said before trying to kill her. Mari had been her friend for nine years before trying to kill her. Really, Cora was lucky some people found her after Mari left her for dead. She told of her attacker, but by then Mari was nowhere to be found. The last conversation they had was about Mari's native Japan, where she lived until she was four and visited every summer. Cora knew, now that she had no one left, she was free to find Mari.

Her mother had fallen ill with cancer within a year before, dying a month before Cora was in the hospital. And a month after the attack Cora had passed her 15th birthday. Her father was killed in the line of duty by a drug cartel lackey. So now she was going to live at a school run by one of her mother's friends from Germany. Her Mutti had told her many tales about Mister Faust or Johann as she called him. Eventually she told her a secret, Mister Faust was only called that in public; his real name was Mephisto Pheles, and he was an Exorcist. Cora never believed in demons, but she would humor this friend of her mother. He was taking care of her.

Cora thanked herself that Mari's mother had taught them both Japanese while they were growing, thanks to that she was able to follow the signs and what people were saying to the baggage claim. She was able to ask a nice pair of airport workers to follow her with her bags. The lawyer said Mister 'Faust' would send someone to pick her up. She spotted a sign in German, 'Gutten Tag Cora Amsel.' The look on the face of the person sent to pick her up was complete shock. He had expected this little blonde girl, but he had not expected her to be rolling up in a wheelchair.

"An… accident," she said motioning the two workers to give the man her bags. The man quickly put on a more presentable face and asked her to follow him as he picked up her five suitcases and tossed them into the limo sent to pick her up.

At her troubled look at the limo, the man simply said, "Faust-san is excited for his niece to be coming, and he can easily pay for this anyways." She nodded and he helped her into the car before folding up her wheelchair and placing it on the floor of the car. Cora sat quietly, watching TV shows on her iPhone, the entire hour trip from Tokyo to True Cross Academy. Her arrival was quiet, much like her departure from the airport. Her bags were taken to Mister 'Faust's' house and she was place in her wheelchair and escorted to his office at the school.

Once entering, Cora was surprised that apparently no one in Japan had been told of her condition. Mephisto Pheles was expecting a young woman with short blonde hair and defiantly walking; instead Cora looked almost matronly, with her newly long hair in a messy bun and sitting in her wheelchair with a blanket over her lap.

"Johann Faust I presume," she said in her Virginian accented Japanese.

"Ah yes my dear," he said, recovering slightly. "And you are Cora. You look much like your mother. I must say, I didn't expect… Well the wheelchair most of all…"

"I had an accident about a month after Mutti died, leaving me in a coma for five months. My fifteenth birthday passed and as did my father's death and funeral. And as you can see, I will most likely never fully recover." His face saddened.

"A sad fact of life. Unfortunately at the moment we must talk about other things. Like your schooling… I understand you skipped two grades, putting you as a student in 11th grade."

"Yes sir. I finished 10th a little before the accident, I was on a different track than the other students."

"Well so you will be able to start 11th in three weeks when the school year here at True Cross comes?"

"I..." Cora faltered for a moment. "There is something I would like to do while I am in Japan. I have some… unfinished business with an… old friend of mine. You see, the 'accident' was; she tried to kill me by pushing me off a bridge into oncoming traffic. She disappeared soon after." She almost grinned, "I would like to pay her back for the service…"

"Well then," Mephisto said, smirking. "Your mother's blood runs strong. I'm sure I could finance such an operation… But first, I would like to know her name. Who knows, we could save time and money by checking if she might be going to school here."

Cora was confused about the comment about her mother's blood, but complied with his request, "Kurokawa Mari."

He went through a list on his computer before stopping at a name, "This isn't Kurokawa 'Mari' but it is a Kurokawa. Care to have a look?" He showed her the school picture of the girl, revealing Mari.

"That's her," Cora croaked, jerking back at the sickening smile Mari had on her face.

"Kurokawa Mariko, I can understand why she used Mari. She is starting as a 9th grader this year." He eyed her. "What do you want to do?"

Cora grinned, "We will see."

"I would prefer no killing," Mephisto said.

"Oh I won't kill her. She believes she has killed me. So let me befriend her again, and show her I have every ability to beat her," her grin straightened into a tight line.

"In these three weeks you have to prepare, how are you going to fix it so she won't know who you are?"

"Colored contacts and a name change should do. I've only ever had short hair. She didn't recognize me after one summer month where I let my hair grow half an inch."

"So what is your new name?"

"Zenzi Faust."

He smiled, and then frowned suddenly. "There is one problem… Your mother has of course told you my job, correct?"

"An exorcist. I respect that but I have never really believed in demons."

"How would you like to see them?"

"See them," Cora, now Zenzi, asked, shocked.

"See them," he nodded. "The problem with you not seeing them is eventually you will. As my new ward, you are a target to them. You need to know how to protect yourself."

"I think I can protect myself just fine," she shot at him.

"From things you can't see when you could?" She paused, a little frightened.

"Fine…" She stared at him. "So how do I see these… demons?"


	2. A Confession

Zenzi was ready to kill him, that goddamned idiot who had officially adopted her the day before, for putting her in a basement, without her chair, with steps leading out of it. She wasn't going anywhere until someone came and got her. She had managed to somewhat her up the three stairs rising up from the sunken part of the basement when something grabbed her leg and pulled her back down.

"Ugh, that damn clown, what was that," she asked herself, rubbing her head. A sharp howl filled the still air of the basement as something came hurtling toward her. She gave a sharp scream as she raised her arm against it and it bit down hard. The next thing she knew she was lying in bed back at the house, her hand grasped by a kimono clad Mephisto.

"Wha, what happened," she asked, sitting up a rubbing the back of her head.

"Look outside the window," he said, nodding in its direction. She glanced toward it, surprised when she saw small black things floating past its panes.

"What are those," she asked, amazed.

"Coal tar, they hover around evil or possessed humans. They possess bits of dust floating in the air. Quite common. What you were bitten by, however, is quite different. But it proved necessary, as now you can… 'See the world more clearly,' if you will." He smiled and ruffled her hair. "Now get some more sleep, I'll send a doctor in to redress the bite." Still quite confused, she stayed silent while the doctor came in and redressed the bite on her arm. Eventually she fell into a quiet, uneventful sleep…

The next morning Mephisto brought up some tea for her smiling as she sipped it happily. The pair watched as the sun rose higher into the sky before Mephisto finally spoke, "Would you like to go to church?" Zenzi nearly spit out her tea, but nodded vigorously. The most contact with people she had during the last year was in the hospital, in the airports, and on the plane. A chance to go to church, which her mother used to love, was welcome.

"I won't be able to go but I will have someone take you, and then you must talk to my friend. He is the Father of the church, Fujimoto-san. He has two boys your age."

"You make it sound like I am five."

"You've only just become my daughter!"

"Don't remind me," Zenzi said with a grin.

"Fuck this," Zenzi said as she was lifted from her seat in the convertible into her wheelchair. 'Bright pink, why bright pink,' she asked herself about Mephisto's choice of coloring for her new wheelchair.

"Please don't curse on consecrated ground Faustu-sama," came the bedraggled response from her helper, who was currently trying to decide which blanket she should have on her lap during service. He finally decided on a black one with embroidered crosses. In all Zenzi could care less. Finally he had it smoothed on her lap and he pushed her along into the rest of the church crowd going into the church.

"We were outside the gates, so it doesn't count."

"Yes it does. God can always hear you."

'Yeah? So why am I in this damn chair, why did I lose my best friend, why did both my parents DIE,' she screamed in her head. The only way it reflected to the outside was her firm line of a mouth had its corners drop slightly, and no one noticed.

"Welcome to South Cross Monastery," a young priest said to them, greeting them at the door. "Please enjoy your time here in our House of God." Zenzi smiled and nodded at him, which he returned, though he slightly questioned why she here when he hadn't seen her before.

By the time her escort, as he preferred she call him, had found them a spot in the back of the church she had already become somewhat of a spectacle. She defiantly looked rich, in even her plain black clothes, with her hair twisted into a side braid, held together with a jewel cluster, and a pearl and garnet rosary clutched in her hands. Her eyes, newly graced with green colored contacts, gave a noble presence if anyone met them.

Not only had the younger priests and some of the congregation had noticed her, Father Fujimoto instantly recognized her escort as a servant of Mephisto. At the sight of the young woman he made his way over to the, bowing to her.

"Welcome home Madame," he said with his church smile.

"Thank you Father, I am very happy to be home," she said returning the smile and giving a nod. The pious reference of 'home' probably was misread by some of the congregation, but all the priests nodded at graciously at what they would classify as 'church banter' a match of wits to test out if someone was faithful to God.

Zenzi quite enjoyed her first real sermon in half a year. As what she could discern of it, she wasn't sure. But she certainly was happy when after the end she abandoned her escort for the confessional line. To the congregation it confirmed her supposed piety, for how could this little woman, incapable of much, have sinned against God; she must have nearly drained her heart of sin by now, searching that deep. Soon she reached the confessional and entered into it, asking the next person to shut the door tight.

"Forgive me Father, for I have sinned. It has been many days since my last confession. I accuse myself of the sin of revenge. I wish revenge upon a woman who was once my best friend, and had been since I was young, and betrayed my trust. She pushed me off of a bridge into oncoming highway traffic, trying to kill me, and instead of forgiving this trespass; I seek revenge against her person. I seek retribution for this feeling."

"Do you totally and completely repent for this, young lady," Fujimoto asked with a laugh.

"Not at all," she smirked. "It just feels good to tell someone who has no chance of telling. I'm sure God will never forgive me for these sins I have committed in my, albeit short, treacherous life. And I doubt, as much as I can represent my undying love for Him, I cannot forgive him for all that has happened."

"Such as?"

"My mother died a month before my friend's betrayal of cancer. While I was in a coma my father was shot by a Drug Cartel member in the line of duty."

"You have reason. But look deep in your heart; will you really never be able to forgive Him?"

"Never," she said, exiting the confessional. She crossed herself and rolled back to her escort.


End file.
